Pocket-Hole Drilling Guide

Equipped with this handy shop aid, you can drill quick, accurate pocket holes for fastening face frames to cabinets, aprons to tabletops, and other similar tasks requiring angled mounting holes. To build the drill guide shown at right, just follow the instructions on the drawings below.

Cut a block and apply the patterns

1. From 1-1/16" stock, cut a block to 2-3/8x3 1/2". Adhere the Full-Size Patterns to it. Locate and bore a 9/16" hole, using a spade bit in the drill press. Bandsaw the guide to shape.

2. Clamp a 3" length of 1/4" iron pipe (9/16" O.D.) into a machinist's vice. Using a 3/8" twist drill, slowly ream out the inside of the pipe to 3/8". Epoxy the pipe into the 9/16" hole, flush with the top of the block. After epoxy sets up, hacksaw the pipe of at an angle to match the block. Use a stationary sander to sand the pipe flush. Break sharp edges of steel with a file and emery cloth.

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Today we can head out to a big box store and get almost any tool we want (except for a bench plane replacement cutter but that is a different story). Back before Stanley and other tool makers, craftsmen had to make a lot of their own tools. I believe this made them more inventive and were more adapt to solving problems. I think this project is great!

Lucky you,$20 USA- Aus$39. in Australia for same thing, however, we have a higher dollar value than a lot of other countries who would find it dearer still, so think about them, it may still be economical to make rather than buy.-no harm done. Thanks chris

Hmm. For less than $20 at Wal*mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, Woodcraft, or Rockler, you can buy a one hole Kreg Mini Kit that includes both the jig and the special drill bit with stop collar. For about $12, you can get the jig alone (no bit). By the time you buy, cut and ream the pipe, how much are you ahead by spending half a day rounding up parts, tools, and fabricating this thing?